LONGMONT -- News that the state of Colorado intends to sue the city of Longmont over its new oil and gas regulations came as no surprise to any of the seven City Council members.

City attorney Eugene Mei was notified by the assistant attorney general, Jake Matter, on Monday that a lawsuit will be filed challenging the city's new regulations. Most of the council members say they found out about the suit Monday night.

Mei said he expected the lawsuit to be filed July 30, the day the new regulations become effective. The council approved them July 17.

Matter declined to speak with the Times-Call on Wednesday, deferring questions to the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the body charged with establishing and enforcing oil and gas regulations in the state.

A storage tank of a fracking well is seen Wednesday near Trail Ridge Middle School in Longmont.
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Matthew Jonas
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"This is a necessary step to get guidance from the courts," Mike King, executive director of the Department of Natural Resources, wrote in a statement to the Times-Call on Wednesday. "We've collaborated successfully with communities for decades on oil and gas development, and parties have traditionally been able to work through issues without drawing hard lines. In the case of Longmont, the community has taken a position we think jeopardizes efficient and orderly development of a resource all citizens depend on. Citizens in Longmont and across the state deserve a clearer sense of authority on this matter, and so we think it's time to turn to the courts for direction and resolution."

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At the heart of the issue is the procedure known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, in which oil companies pump a mixture of sand, water and chemicals down a well thousands of feet underground to fracture bedrock, which releases natural gas and oil deposits. Industry officials insist the process is safe, while some have raised concerns about the potential for air and water pollution.

Mayor Dennis Coombs said Wednesday that he believes the new regs the city put in place, though more stringent than the requirements of the COGCC, were perfectly reasonable, and he stands by his support of them.

"A city should be able to prevent heavy industrial activity from occurring in a residential zone," Coombs said. "We wouldn't want a heavy-duty dairy farm coming into a residential area. I believe that in the end, we're going to win."

Councilman Gabe Santos said he was disappointed with the state's decision to sue, but wasn't surprised by it. A part of the 5-2 majority that passed the new regulations, Santos said he believed everyone on council was acting in the best interests of the city, no matter which side they voted on, and that he still stands by his vote.

"In the end our job is to protect the city of Longmont and its residents," he said.

Councilwoman Bonnie Finley said the threat of a lawsuit was only one of the reasons she voted against adopting the new regulations.

"I think some of the council members were led to believe it was an empty threat, and it wasn't," said Finley, who, along with Katie Witt, voted consistently against the new regs. "But mostly I'm concerned about the cost. ... We need to know how we would pay for it -- the legal costs as well as any penalties."

Councilman Brian Bagley said he believes the new regulations are a "win-win," offering some assurances to residents that drilling pads won't be located too close to homes, schools, parks and other places where people congregate, while allowing industry the right to exercise its mineral rights.

But he said that for the COGCC, it's not so much a matter of the specific regulations but the fact that Longmont passed any of its own regulations at all.

Councilman Alex Sammoury agreed with Bagley.

"I still believe that we are within our rights as a city, and I believe that to them it's not so much a suit about what we're passing is superceding them, as it is that they don't want their communities to stray," Sammoury said. "That's my opinion."

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